The Day Takashi Morinozuka Stood Sullen
by melancolie
Summary: Takashi Morinozuka isn't one to act out of the ordinary, so any change in his demeanor is a great opportunity for the other boys of the Ouran Host Club to exploit it for all it's worth. T for mild language later on.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello, all! Melancolie here. Recently, I found this excellent new manga called "Ouran High School Host Club." And it has changed my life.  
Alright, so maybe not REALLY. But whatever. :)

Anyways, this is just a sort of crack-fic sort of thing, just something I'm doing for my own enjoyment, and maybe to try my hand at characterizing. I'm not really good at it, so I'm gonna practice, and the guys (and girl) of Ouran Host Club just scream personality. :)

If you're a reader of my other series, "Total Duncan Island," don't fret. I'm not giving up on the series. I've just been distracted a lot lately. There's been a lot of homework, and I've been reading/watching Ouran and whatnot. Don't worry. I'll have the next chapter of TDI done soon. I'm on vacation now, after all.

That being said, I only have one more thing to say before I let you go. It's been at least two years since I've sat in any Japanese learning class, so I'm sorry if, for the rare few times I DO use them, the honorifics are wrong. :)

Now that that's done, I hope you will enjoy my first Ouran fan fic. :D

~-------------~----------------~--------------~--------~0~--------~----------------~--------------~----------~

Mitsukuni Haninozuka (more commonly known as 'Hunny') was sitting in his limousine outside the Morinozuka estate, waiting patiently for his cousin to finish getting ready for school. Checking his watch, the small boy frowned, feeling uneasy. It wasn't like Takashi (as Hunny alone was allowed to call him; everybody else simply called him 'Mori,' or 'Mori-senpai') to be this late.

Hunny glanced around nervously (and rather unnecessarily) before pulling a small cell phone out of his pocket. It had been a gift from Takashi; he'd given it to Hunny simply as a precaution (the Haninozukas frowned at the idea of cell phones. They weren't natural, and they went against all the laws the Haninozuka clan had passed down for generations, and that was that instinct would tell when a comrade was in danger). While Mori knew that Hunny was more than capable of taking care of himself, he'd made Hunny promise that, should he **ever** be needed, not to hesitate to call him.

And Hunny was sure that if he even let the phone just ring once, Takashi would come. So he took a minute to admire the bunny background, then hit the button for the Contacts window. He carefully scrolled down to "Takashi," and hit the tiny green phone button.

But his efforts proved to be unnecessary; just as he heard the first ring, he looked out the window to find Mori already halfway between the car and his front door. A nervous, frail looking woman was bowing towards Mori, who looked flustered as he stomped, flat-footed towards the car. In one fluid motion, he opened the car door, sat down, and shut the door behind him, completely ignoring both the lady and Hunny's confused glances.

"Drive." He said coldly to the driver, who stiffened up, and immediately followed his order. If he'd seen Mori's scowl, he might have just had a heart attack.

Then, Hunny smiled. "Hiya, Takashi!" He asked curiously, smiling a wide smile. He was always glad to see his cousin.

"Ah." Mori responded, but he didn't say anything else, or ask the question in return, as he usually did when addressing Hunny.

Hunny looked at his cousin with a quizzical expression. "Is everything alright, Takashi?" He asked. He couldn't help but be concerned. '_Poor Takashi,_'he thought sadly, as Mori continued to ignore his question. '_Whatever happened must really be eating away at him, he's never this unhappy._' Thinking about his generally stoic, content cousin, Hunny turned away, sighing.

---~0~---

They arrived at Ouran Academy shortly afterward, and Hunny happily jumped out of the car. Even without doing anything extravagant, he attracted the attention of several girls, who shouted, "Hiya, Hunny-senpai!" or "Aw, he's so enthusiastic! It's so cute!"

He smiled a large smile. "Hi, girls! How are you all this morning?" Hunny didn't have to try to appeal to anybody. He was naturally charming; his boyish looks and small stature only helped add to his appeal. He'd simply been born lucky.

"We're well." At this point, Mori had caught up to Hunny and, without waiting for the consent of the smaller boy, scooped him up and put him on his shoulders. Hunny gasped as Mori continued to walk away, now with Hunny in tow, completely ignoring the girls.

Hunny wasn't sure how Mori was feeling (he hadn't said a word during the entire car ride there), but he sure felt bad about just ditching the girls like that, so, on top of Mori's shoulders, Hunny carefully turned around, and waved. "Sorry, ladies!" He smiled apologetically. "We'll just talk later, 'kay?"

The girls waved goodbye, and one of them said, "You know, I've never seen Mori senpai act like that."

The others looked after them, putting their hands to their mouths in concern, and the same one said, "I hope he's alright."

---~0~---

Mori and Hunny shortly after arrived in their classroom, after Mori had set Hunny down none-too-gently. Hunny was now getting very concerned; there was definitely something wrong with his bigger cousin, and he really, really wanted to find out what it was.

Hunny wanted to find out just to know what was wrong, but it was more than that, too. Mori had always acted as a caretaker to Hunny, and had never even let Hunny forget to brush his teeth. In return, what did Mori get? A small headache of a boy who was too fond of sweets and cute things to offer much in terms of conversation or common interests, not to mention another person he had to keep an eye on and worry about. Hunny's heart sank when this thought crossed his mind.

'_What have I ever done for Takashi?_' He wondered idly as the teacher came in and began roll call. Mori sat in a seat two to the right and one ahead of Hunny, so Hunny resolved to observe him and his behavior during class.

What Hunny observed was less than appealing. Mori was generally a very good student. He always took a surplus of notes and paid the utmost attention during his lessons. But today, he simply sat in his desk, staring at the chalkboard. He didn't take a note. He didn't even respond when the teacher called on him. He just sat there, like a log, and waited until the teacher gave up and called on someone else.

By the end of lessons, Hunny's eyes were full of tears that he quickly rubbed away before Mori could see.

However, it was unnecessary; Mori didn't wait for Hunny after class, as was their custom. He got up, haphazardly threw his books into his bag, and walked out. Hunny gasped, fresh tears filling the corners of his eyes, and he quickly put his books in his bag and ran after Mori.

By the time he'd caught up, Mori was almost already at Kendo club. Hunny was running to keep up with Mori's long stride, and he said, "Takashi! Why didn't you wait for me after class?"

Mori ignored him completely, and entered the dojo, leaving Hunny outside looking for all the world like an abandoned puppy.

---~0~---

Hunny didn't know what to do. He wanted to wait for Takashi before going to the Host Club, but if Takashi saw him crying as hard as he was, he didn't know what he would do. He didn't want Takashi to be angry at him, or to worry about him unnecessarily. So instead, he wiped the tears with his already damp sleeves, and headed up to Host Club early.

As he opened the door (had it always been that heavy? Hunny couldn't remember the last time he'd had to open the door by himself), he saw chaos. Haruhi was fruitlessly trying to run away from Kaoru and Hikaru, both in similar dresses, who were brandishing a third dress at her, saying, "Come on, Haruhi, we're all wearing dresses today!" Behind Kaoru and Hikaru, Tamaki (with his dress just barely on, and twisted all over the place) was running rampant, telling them to leave his little girl alone, and that if they even **thought** about making her do something she didn't want to do, he'd make sure they were miserable. Kyouya was sitting at a table, quietly sipping tea and typing in his laptop, smiling coolly and watching the scene unfold as always.

What was going on?!

Hunny walked over to Kyouya, who looked at Hunny for a second, then looked behind him, obviously noticing the lack of Hunny's shadow. "Hunny senpai, where's Mori senpai?"

Despite how quiet these words were in comparison to the raucous that was Haruhi, Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki, everybody stopped fighting to hear what Hunny had to say. Hunny frowned sadly, and looked at his feet.

"Takashi's at Kendo. I decided not to wait for him today." He said, shuffling his feet. Everybody came in closer.

"Why didn't you wait? Is something the matter?" Tamaki asked. Try as he might, Hunny couldn't prevent fresh tears pooling in the corners of his eyes.

"N-No..." But he couldn't prevent a sob from escaping, and at this point, lying would have been a foolish waste of his time. "Yea! Something's wrong with Takashi! He wouldn't talk all morning, and he was rude to the girls outside, and he set me down heavy, and he wouldn't take notes in class, and he didn't answer when the teacher called on him, and... and..." Hunny took a fresh breath and said, "And he didn't wait for me after school. Something's wrong with him! I think he's mad at me! Wahhh!" At that point, Hunny couldn't prevent wave after wave of sobs and tears from pouring out in droves.

The rest of the club looked on in concern. While that **wasn't** Mori's normal behavior, what could Hunny have possibly done to have upset Mori that much? From what they could tell, Mori was almost obsessed with Hunny; it was hard to imagine that Hunny could have possibly done anything to irritate Mori, let alone make Mori that mad at him.

"I-is there anything that you could have done that might have upset Mori senpai?" Haruhi asked, flustered. She couldn't wrap her mind around a mean Mori. It just didn't fit.

Hunny sniffled and wiped some of the tears away with a tissue that Kyouya had given him to replace (and hopefully save) his limp sleeves. "I don't know. I don't think so." Hunny scanned his memory for anything that might have irked Mori, but absolutely nothing came to mind except what he'd been thinking earlier. "I was... sort of thinking earlier that..." He stopped, and looked at the ground, melancholy etched into every cell that made up his face. "That maybe Takashi hangs around me so much because he feels obligated to..." He said, then looked up at the rest of his fellow hosts' faces.

Each one of them looked doubtful, even Tamaki, who had the capability of being as intelligent as Hunny's stuffed bunny sometimes. "No. That's not it." Tamaki said quietly. When Tamaki was being quiet was when you knew he was being perfectly serious. "There has to be some other reason...." He said, frowning.

Haruhi put her mind to work. '_So, Mori was irritable even this morning, when they'd picked him up..._' Well, that was fishy. "You don't think something happened at home, do you?" She asked Hunny. Everybody else looked up.

"What do you mean, Haru-chan?" Hunny asked inquisitively.

"Well, look at it this way. He was irritated this morning, when you picked him up, right?" She asked. Hunny nodded, hugging his stuffed bunny. "Well, then, what if it wasn't YOU that irritated him... but someone at home?"

Hunny gasped, his eyes widened. Then he smiled. "That has to be it!" Then he froze, and his face fell. "It couldn't have been his parents." Hunny said quietly. "They're out of town. And Takashi would never get angry at Satoshi-chan." He sighed. "So then, it must be me after all."

"D-don't say that, Hunny senpai!" Hikaru said quickly, waving his hands, foreseeing tears.

"Yea! He's not mad at you." Kaoru added, equally as anxious.

"It's just not physically possible." They said together, twin-sync.

Then, Hikaru got a gleam in his eye, and looked to Kaoru, who'd realized what his twin was thinking the second he caught the look on Hikaru's face. They both grinned devious grins.

"You know, this is the perfect set up for a game." Hikaru drawled offhandedly.

Kaoru shrugged. "I dunno. It hardly seems the time for it. What with Hunny senpai so upset, and Mori senpai nowhere to be found."

Haruhi mumbled, "Nowhere to be found? He's at Kendo practice." However, like always, the twins ignored her, and, with a flat stare, she stalked off to put on her costume for the day.

"Besides," Tamaki added. "Nobody wants to play your stupid games."

"Stupid?!" Kaoru stood up, smirking. "Our games are not stupid!"

"Yea," Hikaru added. "Just look at the prizes. And this time, I've got the ideal prize in mind." Hikaru, through about two years of practice, had learned just how to push Tamaki's buttons. By offering him a tantalizing carrot like that, Tamaki had no choice **but** to bite.

"Oh, yea? What kind of prize do you have in mind? Hypothetically speaking, of course." Hypothetical my foot.

Hikaru shrugged. "Oh, nothing. Just that whoever loses has to back off of Haruhi, unless she chooses said loser." Hikaru smirked, looking straight at Tamaki. "Giving the winner a clear playing field."

This definitely sparked the Host Club King's interest. "Hmm..." He said, pretending to consider. But everybody knew he'd bite; the stakes were just too perfect. Ever since they'd both realized their love for Haruhi, Tamaki and Hikaru and been at each others throats over her. They were perfectly civil, even friendly, when it came to anything other than her (neither of them wanted to lose the other's friendship, after all), but the second Haruhi entered the fray, or even came up in conversation, neither guy could behave at all gentlemanly.

The winner of this game would have a clear shot at Haruhi. The loser wouldn't be able to see her without the winner's jurisdiction, or even talk to her without the winner knowing exactly what he was going to say. The stakes were just too perfect.

And so it was that Hikaru and Tamaki, along with Kaoru (who would have won in order to support Hikaru) and Kyouya (who'd entered the contest, knowing that if he won, everybody would relax and leave Haruhi alone), set out to figure out exactly what was wrong with their strong, silent type.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Konbanwa! *takes a bow* For those of you who don't know what I just said, allow me to translate: Good evening! :P  
I've got the next chapter of "The Day Takashi Morinozuka Stood Sullen" out for you. :)  
After this, there's only one more chapter, alright? It gets more interesting in this chapter, believe me.

So, without further ado, here you are: Chapter Two!

* * *

Mori arrived at the host club about an hour after the bet was established, although Mori himself didn't quite know about it, yet. He was too concerned with his day, and how crappy it had been, simply because of his morning. Most of the days customers were already there when he arrived, but instead of searching out Mitsukuni like he normally would have if he'd left before Mori got out of Kendo, he went to a window, and leaned on a sill, sulking. Several girls carefully walked over to him.

"Mori senpai? Is everything alright? You've been acting strange today." One of the bolder girls asked. Mori ignored them, half-hoping they would leave him alone. But they didn't. "Mori senpai?"

Completely and utterly irritated, he turned to them with a glare. They flinched, as if expecting him to strike them. "May I help you?" He asked bitterly. The girls immediately shook their heads and scattered. Mori looked after them for another minute, and rolled his eyes.

Whatever.

* * *

Hikaru and Kaoru watched this exchange, half shocked and half amused. The only time they'd ever seen Mori senpai be purposely cruel to anybody was when Hunny senpai had his cavity; it was almost funny to see him being this rude on purpose. Something like this next to never happened, and it was important to get as much out of it as possible. That's why Kaoru was so glad Hikaru had decided to make a game out of this; it would be so much easier for everybody to remember.

Kaoru grinned. "I'm gonna go give this a try." He whispered to Hikaru. Then, attracting the attention of several of the surrounding girls, he stood up. "If you would kindly excuse me, ladies, I'm going to go see if I can't figure out what's wrong with Mori senpai." He drawled, trying to make a show of it; he was trying to attract Tamaki's attention.

Which he successfully managed; Tamaki looked away from the girl he was currently trying to woo, and watched fearfully as Kaoru walked slowly over to Mori. '_Crap!_' Tamaki thought, panicked. '_If Kaoru manages to find out what's wrong, he's going to keep me away from Haruhi for his brother's sake!_' He bit his lip, then thought, '_What am I going to do?!_'

Around him, the surrounding girls watched his ever-changing facial expression with curious looks. "What's wrong with Tamaki senpai?" One girl asked, putting a finger to her lip in concern. The rest of them shrugged.

"I don't know. But he does this a lot. Kyoya senpai told me to just ignore it, and he'll cut it out eventually." Another one said. The girls watched in amusement as Tamaki went through an internal struggle, visible for the world to see on his face.

But Tamaki's panicking was entirely unnecessary. Kaoru had finally reached Mori, and sat down on the window ledge next to him. He had most eyes on him. So, he gave Hikaru the thumbs up, and said, "Mori senpai?" Mori looked over with a flat expression that was clearly a warning sign. Kaoru gulped, but carried on with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. "What's up? You've been acting strange all day. We're getting worried." He said, choosing his words cautiously.

But his choice of words didn't matter. Mori was not to be bothered today, apparently, because he glared at Kaoru for a full minute (during which Kaoru slowly became more concerned, wondering if Mori senpai was going to hit him), before looking back to the window and saying, "Go mind your own business, you homo."

The music room went completely silent. Weighing his options, Kaoru quickly determined that the best and most productive way for him to react to this situation would be—

"**Wahh**!" He ran, teary-eyed, back to Hikaru, and dove straight into his brother's arms. "Hikaru! Mori senpai just called me a homo!" Hikaru put his arms around his brother comfortingly, surprised at his brother's quick thinking. He stroked his brother's hair calmingly.

"Don't worry, Kaoru, he didn't mean it!" Hikaru said gently, playing along with his brother's impromptu act with perfection. "He's just in a bad mood today, that's all. Don't worry, Ru-ru, don't worry." He then gently pressed his lips to the top of Kaoru's head, which earned them several squeals. Kaoru looked up at him with tears in his eyes and a blush on his cheeks.

"Hikaru! I thought I asked you not to call me that in front of other people." He looked away, abashed, and closed his eyes. "It's embarrassing."

Hikaru clutched his brother's waist in one hand, pushed Kaoru's face to look up at him with his other hand, and pulled him closer. "I'm sorry, Kaoru, I forgot. It's just that you look so cute right now, it slipped my mind." Then he lowered his volume and made his voice husky. "Can you find it in you to forgive me?"

Kaoru looked him straight in the eye and said, "Oh, how could I stay mad at you, Hikaru?" Their faces moved closer and closer together until they were the designated 'barely-a-millimeter' apart before stopping. While they stared at each other through half-lidded, glazed eyes, the girls around them shrieked and squealed. One of them passed out, but nobody went to check on her; she was a regular, and she always passed out. She'd be up and at 'em again in minutes.

* * *

The next to take a shot was Tamaki, which didn't surprise anybody; in fact, they'd expected Tamaki to go soon after, considering he was the most panicked of everybody. Of course, they also expected him to be so panicked he would say something incredibly stupid and get himself hit.

Which, of course, he did without fail.

He had intended to go over there, give Mori a stern talking-to about how he was hindering today's profits, and that if he didn't stop sulking, Kyoya would have his tail... but the second Tamaki started talking, Mori gave him a stiff upper-cut to the jaw, which knocked Tamaki straight to the ground.

This immediately caught everybody in the music room's attention. With wide eyes, Tamaki clutched his now aching, red and swollen chin in one hand, leaned his weight on his other elbow, and stared at Mori, who was looking down on him, glaring. When he spoke, he voice was pure acid. "What don't you people understand? I want to be left **alone**." He scowled, and turned his back, stomping angrily out of the music room.

Several girls crowded around Tamaki, worrying over him, offering to get him things or call the nurse or call an ambulance, but Tamaki waved them away, and carefully got to his feet. "Oh, no, I'm alright." He said, dusting himself off. He tried to smile, but ended up grimacing. The girls squealed in concern, but he just continued to wave them off. "Really, I'll be okay. I'm just worried about you girls. I hope you aren't too frightened by Mori senpai's reaction. He's just having an off day. He should be fine by tomorrow." Tamaki promised nervously, trying to keep the girls' will to return intact.

Kyoya agreed, and said, "But if you girls don't mind, we may have to close early today. We need to make sure there's nothing seriously wrong with Mori senpai, or Tamaki." But he smiled the smile that only fooled the girls, and said, "But we'll be open same time, same place tomorrow." Then, with Hikaru and Kaoru's help, he herded the girls out, waved good-bye for effect, and shut the door.

Until then, Hunny had kept quiet, trying not to irritate his cousin or disturb the girls, but once the door shut, he let out a long, loud, miserable wail. "Wahh!! Takashi!!" He slumped forward on the table, crying loudly. Biting her lip, Haruhi went over to him and gently put her hand on his back consolingly.

While Haruhi tried to cheer up a thoroughly depressed Hunny, Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru grouped together to discuss what had just happened. Nobody noticed the Shadow King subtly slip out the door he'd just closed.

As only anime characters can do, Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru were darkly outlined and completely white in the inside. "What are we going to do?!" Tamaki asked frantically. "There's no talking to him today! And there's no way I'm giving that another shot, he might take my head off!"

"I'm afraid to give it a try!" Hikaru said, shivering. "Hell, I'm afraid to go **near** him right now!" Kaoru bit his lip, and said, "I wonder if he was serious when he called me a homo."

"That's not important right now!" Tamaki said, now back to normal color, and with a large band-aid on his chin. The twins shortly after returned to color as well, and looked at him curiously. "What's important is diagnosing the problem and fixing it." He clenched a fist, and dropped it like a gavel into his other hand. "Something is dreadfully wrong with Mori senpai, and as members of the host club, it is our sworn duty to restore our fallen companion to his normal self!" Then he stood up and posed in a ridiculous fashion. "Are you with me, men?!"

Hikaru and Kaoru, who were caught in the moment, stood up and mimicked Tamaki's pose, saying, "We're with you, boss!" Then together, the three of them marched, arm in arm, towards the room into which Mori had disappeared. When they reached the door, the three of them paused.

"Well..." Tamaki said, looking at each twin in turn. "One of you, go open the door." He ordered. The twins immediately refused.

"No way! He could be waiting right behind the door to attack us!" Hikaru said. Kaoru agreed. "Yea, there's no way we're risking our lives just to cheer him up!" Then they each unlinked their arms and pushed Tamaki towards the door, and, in sync, said, "You do it, Tono."

"What?!" Tamaki shrieked, his voice raising several octaves and breaking the sound barrier. "No way, why should I do it?! I'm the one who almost got my head beat off!" As he was yelling, the door behind him slowly opened, and the twin's faces immediately became panicked. Tamaki, who didn't hear the door through his rant, continued yelling, "If anything, it should be one of you two! That way, if one of you dies, there's another one there to—"

"**Shut up**!" Mori yelled from the crack in the door. Tamaki jumped about five feet in the air, and he, Hikaru and Kaoru ran quickly to the complete opposite side of the room, and hid behind a couch, Tamaki peeking over the top and the twins peeking out from either side. As soon as he assured they would quit haunting his door and making loud noises, Mori grunted, and the door closed again.

Tamaki heaved a sigh of relief. "That was a close one, guys." Then his eyes squinted. "Hey, why didn't you guys tell me he was opening the door? You could have at least warned me, you know, instead of letting him scare me to death like that!"

They both rolled their eyes and said, "Save it." Then, in the way-too-casual, offhand drawl he usually adopted when addressing Tamaki, Hikaru said, "We tried to warn you, but..." And, as usual, Kaoru picked up where he left off. "You were yelling too loud to hear us."

Looking frustrated, but having no way to prove his own innocence (he **had** been pretty loud), Tamaki groaned irritably and said, "Well, alright. Then let's form a plan of attack, men."

* * *

Crouching down over a blank piece of floor tile, Tamaki used a piece of chalk to draw the door, the surrounding windows, Xs representing himself and the twins, and a small circle where they could assume Mori senpai was "lurking."

"But, wait." Hunny jumped in after several minutes. Haruhi had gone to change back into her school uniform, claiming she was 'uncomfortable still wearing a dress.' "What about your contest?" He asked innocently, carrying his stuffed rabbit over an arm with a plate of cake in the hand, and a fork that rested against his mouth in the other.

Having forgotten about the contest, Hikaru and Tamaki glared at each other competitively and scowled. Kaoru gave Hunny a flat look, and Hunny looked surprised, then apologetic. Kaoru rolled his eyes and shook his head, and cocked his head quickly to Hunny, motioning him to come over and watch the show.

Because now that he mentioned it, there most certainly would be one. Kaoru and Hunny had seen this so many times, they could almost recite the lines back and forth. Earlier, they were so scared, they forgot about the contest; now that their competitive spirit had been refreshed, it would go something like this:

"Well, Tama chan is gonna say that Hika chan hadn't forgotten about the competition, and was just pretending to so that he would drop his guard." Hunny told Kaoru as the argument began.

"And Hikaru is going to say that the only reason Tono said that is because that's what **he'd** been doing, that that Tono just had a guilty conscience." Kaoru responded to Hunny.

"So Tama chan is going to say that he would never do that—"

"—and Hikaru is going to say that it's because he's too stupid—"

"—and Tama chan is going to get angry and say that Hika chan's just motivated to steal Haru chan's innocence—"

"—and Hikaru is going to say that Tono's referring to Haruhi as his daughter is creepy and weird—"

"—and Tama chan is going to say that Hika chan is just jealous of his relationship with Haru chan—"

"—and Hikaru is going to scoff, and say something along the lines of 'what relationship? You never see her outside of the club'—"

"—and Tama chan is going to go sulk in a corner." Hunny said, and barely a second later, Tamaki ran to the wall, sat down, and curled up into a ball. Hunny and Kaoru exchanged amused looks. They had it down to a T.

"You know, you could have avoided all of that if you had just waited for me to come back." Kyoya's voice rang out from the door. Everybody turned to see Kyoya enter the music room, surprised.

"Kyoya! Where'd you go? We didn't even realize you'd left." Tamaki said, quiet in his surprise. Kyoya grunted in anger, and squinted.

"I see." He said flatly. Then he sighed. "Well, I went out to go get somebody who could put an end to all of this foolishness." He said, bouncing back quickly from his prior offense. "And I brought him back here." Then he pushed the door open, and there stood...

Satoshi? Everybody sent a curious look to their Shadow King, who stood there smirking. "Oh, and, by the way," He said, amused. His tone sent chills down everybody's spine, because when Kyoya was amused, it meant nothing good for anybody. "I think I win the bet."

* * *

**A/N:** Before I let you go, I just thought you might want to hear this story, just to know how blonde your author actually is.

I was re-reading this just before posting, and I'm looking to see if there are any more words that needed to be bolded or italicized. And I'm reading, reading, reading... and I get to the part where Kyoya comes back, and I think, 'Wait. Didn't I add in somewhere that he'd LEFT? Where'd it go?'

So I go through the entire story at least three more times, and I don't find it. So I go to Word, to see if it's there, and it's the first line my eyes come across. So I check out the context, and find it in the story.

Well, turns out that had been one of the lines I re-read a few times, because I thought it was in that general area.

Looks like the Shadow King is so subtle, he can sneak right past the author! xD

--Cricket chirps--

... Yea. Well, hope you enjoyed it anyways! :) Next chapter is the end!!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Well, here we are! The final piece of the "The Day Takashi Morinozuka Stood Sullen" Trilogy! I gotta say, I absolutely loved writing this. I love characterization shorts like no other. :)  
Plus, I totally love Mori, so writing him in good or bad mood just makes my day. ^-^

One more thing before I let you go: I did warn that this was slightly crack-fic-ish. I do not disappoint. :)

That being said, I have nothing more to say, except:  
**ENJOY!**

* * *

"So, Satoshi, can you tell us what's wrong with Mori senpai?" Tamaki asked Satoshi at the Host Club's table. They'd offered Satoshi tea and a snack before making him sit down. He'd accepted the tea graciously, and was sipping at it when Tamaki asked.

"What's wrong with Takashi?" Satoshi asked, confused. He put his finger to his lip in curiosity, and looked to the ceiling. "Well, I just don't know! I barely saw him at all this morning, we took separate cars. He rode with Mitsukuni, and I rode with Yasuchika." Around him, everybody in the Host Club sighed deeply in disappointment, except Kyoya, who just looked indignant.

"What?! But you said you would be able to help us get to the bottom of this!" Kyoya said, for once dropping his Shadow King façade in his displeasure. Satoshi looked at him with wide eyes, then grinned a large grin.

"Oh, yea, I can still help you! All you had to do is ask him what's wrong." Satoshi said, as if it were as obvious as 'the sky is blue, the grass is green.' Hikaru and Kaoru bit their lips, exchanging glances, and Tamaki stuttered.

"But we tried asking him earlier, and he punched me in the face and called Kaoru a homo." Tamaki told Satoshi painfully, as if it hurt him to think about. Satoshi cocked his head to the side, listening to Tamaki intently. When Tamaki finished talking, Satoshi just grinned.

"Well, that's because he's just shy!" Satoshi said, and grinned a larger grin.

The Host Club stared at him blankly for a minute, and Satoshi started to chuckle. "Don't worry, guys. I'll be able to find out what's wrong." Then he stood up, and asked, "Where is Takashi, anyways?"

Hikaru and Kaoru pointed to the door behind which Mori was hiding, and said in sync, "Sulking behind that door." Satoshi followed their directions, and walked calmly over to the door. Without even a second glance, he opened the door, walked inside, and shut the door behind him.

* * *

There was a slight pause, then Hikaru said, "Poor kid. He's probably dead now." He, Kaoru and Tamaki hung their heads sadly. "Ah, Satoshi! We sort of knew him kinda well. His memory will forever live in our hearts."

Haruhi rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, come on, guys. Mori senpai may be in a bad mood, but I don't think he's so irrational as to beat up his own brother." Then she sighed, and said flatly, "And did it ever occur to you that maybe Mori senpai got mad because you sort of made a show out of asking him what was wrong with him?"

"Made a show?! Haruhi, we put our lives on the line!" Hikaru said indignantly. Kaoru agreed. "Yea! He could have killed us!" Then he pulled Tamaki over by the tie and pointed to the band-aid on his chin, and he and Hikaru said, together, "And did you see what he did to Tono?!"

Haruhi listened to them for a minute, then said, "Well, yea, but, I mean, you guys were kind of insensitive about it. I mean, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded telling you guys, but I don't think he wanted the entire club to know."

Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki bit back any responses they might have had, and looked away. Now that they thought about it, they HAD been insensitive. Besides, the girls didn't want to know their problems; they wanted to be entertained, and problems aren't entertaining.

Just as they thought about it, the door opened up, and Satoshi came back out, completely unharmed. In fact, he was grinning widely, and said, "Good news! I've figured out what's wrong with Takashi!"

* * *

Once again, the entire club surrounded Satoshi at their table, and supplied him with a fresh cup of tea. Satoshi was grinning the entire time, and saying, "You guys aren't gonna believe it!"

Finally, when everybody had tea (or commoner's coffee in Tamaki's case), Hunny nudged Satoshi and said, "Well? Tell us! What's wrong with Takashi?"

Satoshi took a sip of his tea and said, "Good tea." Then he shook his head and said, "However, that's not important right now." Then he grinned wider and continued. "What happened was, this morning, our new chef finally started working, and didn't know what to make for breakfast. She had a list of what not to prepare, but she accidentally got water on it, and it was destroyed. So she took a guess for what to make and prepared Eggs Benedict and a Quiche." Then Satoshi took a deep breath and said, "And because of Takashi's love for baby chicks, he wouldn't eat his breakfast. The idea of eating something so harmless and adorable made him lose his appetite."

There was nothing but silence all around the table while this new information slowly seeped into everybody's mind. "So…" Haruhi began slowly. "What you're saying is…"

"Takashi's just hungry!" Satoshi said, smiling widely.

Around him, everybody was perfectly still for just one moment, and the next, everybody but Satoshi (who continued to sit at the table with a wide grin and his eyes closed) was on the ground, on all fours, each one with a hand at the bridge of their nose.

"I got called a homo…" Kaoru began.

"And I got punched in the face…" Tamaki continued.

"Because Takashi… didn't eat breakfast." Hunny finished for them all.

Haruhi took a deep breath, and let out a long sigh. With her next breath, she looked at the door leading to Mori's hiding place, and said, "I. Hate. Rich. People."

* * *

The next day, Hunny arrived at Mori's house early in the morning to pick him up for school again. He was a little bit afraid of what he might encounter, but he figured that it couldn't have been any worse than yesterday.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Takashi came out of his house, and walked casually up to Hunny's limo. He opened the door, sat inside, and said, "Morning, Mitsukuni. How'd you sleep?"

Hunny looked at him and smiled. "Just fine, Takashi." Then he looked out the window and imagined the fury that Mori would have to put up with today from Hikaru, Kaoru and Tamaki. "Just fine."


End file.
